Summer Fun
by giggles'shammo
Summary: Kagome goes back for the summer to visit her 20th century friends.


Start Date:  
Monday, 15 March, 1999 about 9 or 10pm  
End Date:  
Sunday, 21 March, 1999 8:10pm

Author's Notes: This story takes place in the summer between the fight of Inu-Yasha & the Thunder Brothers and the salvation of Mayu, the little girl who died in a fire.

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"You're so lucky that Hojo likes you, Kagome! I mean, WOW! He's a babe!" babbled one schoolgirl.  
"But, we aren't--"  
"Nonsense," waved another girl, "there's no need to deny it!"  
Kagome Higurashi just sighed. Nobody ever listened to her, especially not Inu-Yasha.  
"That reminds me! I have to go!" the young lady in question exclaimed, standing abruptly and pushing her chair out behind her.  
"Huh? Kagome! You're on clean-up duty, remember!" blurted Kagome's friend.  
"Cover for me Yu-chan! I'll buy you a parfait if you do! Byeeeeee!" smiled Kagome as she rushed towards the shrine that doubled as her home.  
Yu was left to sweep and mop the entire classroom.  
"Aw geez...The things we do for sweets..." Yu muttered as she set to it.  
"Shoot! Shoot! Inu-yasha's going to scold me for sure!"  
The Sunset Shrine rested serenely on the top of a hill. Cherry trees littered the property, but it's most distinguishing feature was it's Goshinboku or "God Tree," which was said to be well over five hundred years old. It's gnarled roots and trunk had seen wars, famine, and tyranny, while the tree remained silent and indifferent. It was also the tree that Inu-Yasha had been pinned to by the miko known as Kikyo.  
Kagome practically flew up the one hundred and sixty-six steps leading up to the shrine. Inu-Yasha had said to be at the Bone-Eaters Well before sunset, and Kagome silently cursed as the golden sun dipped lazily down the horizon. She was at the mini-shrine before she knew it.  
"Kagome! Are you blind or incredibly stupid? Do you not see that object?" Inu-Yasha exclaimed, pointing sarcastically to the setting yellow orb.  
"Oh stuff it, will ya! I was on clean-up duty!" Kagome huffed.  
"You don't have the scent of dirt or dust, nor the scent of water on you." the dog-man added flatly, his nose in the air and his eyes closed.  
"Want me to say 'the word?'" grinned Kagome.  
"...NO! No!..." he growled. He hated the word 'sit' and everything associated with it. The prayer beads around his neck tingled with anticipation.  
"Then lemme get my pack ready. Wanna come in and have a cup of tea?" the young girl offered.  
"..."  
"Come on! Geez. I'll only be a second, and mama always has some ready!"  
Kagome turned and ran into her house, InuYasha walking slowly behind her, a dumpy look on his face.  
Mrs. Higurashi came to the door and greeted the demon-boy, a load of laundry in tow.  
"Hello again, young man. Tea's in the dining room. Help yourself!"  
Inu-Yasha growled. Stupid humans, with their unesscessary chores. He slowly walked into the dining area and found the ceramic cup filled with steaming oolong. He picked it up and wandered towards Kagome's room.  
"--No, Sota! You can't come with me. Mom'd have a coronary! 'Sides! It's bad enough that Inu-Yasha has to deal with me! He isn't exactly fond of humans, you know."  
"That's not true..." Inu-Yasha said very quietly to himself before bursting into Kagome's room.  
"Are you ready YET!" he shouted.  
"For the love of Japan, do you have to yell all the time!" retorted Kagome.  
Sota lit up.  
"Inu-Yasha! Cool," he smiled.  
Kagome adjusted her shoelaces. She had changed out of her uniform, and was wearing dark blue jeans and a white tank top with the word 'Treat' embroidered on it. She wore an unbuttoned, green plaid flannel shirt over her tank.  
"I don't believe cool is the word, bro... More like arrogant, or ill-tempered, or stubborn, or selfish, or uncari--" Kagome added tartly.  
"Oh be quiet, and finish putting your belongings in that rucksack." Inu-Yasha growled.  
"Yes, master..." Kagome giggled.  
Kagome put her homework in her math textbook and placed it in her bag. She also dropped in her biology book, just in case. Hopefully, it wouldn't be so busy in the past this time, and she'd get a chance to do some more studying. After grabbing a few pieces of gum and candy from her little jar on her desk, Kagome zipped up her pack.  
"Woof!" she gasped as she picked it up.  
Sota looked at her in amazement.  
"Wow, sis, you're strong!"  
Kagome grinned sheepishly, "Well, us girls aren't known for packing light!"  
"Can we go?" growled the dog-boy.  
After saying good-bye to her mother and grandpa, Kagome dropped into the well. Her pack came next, followed by an impatient Inu-Yasha.

Kagome sat with her nose in a book. Inu-Yasha had gone out snooping for secrets about the Shikon shards.  
"Inu-Yasha sure is taking his sweet time!" grumbled Shippo, the young fox-demon.  
"Hey, I don't care. As long as I get good marks." she admitted, flipping a page.  
Shippo inched over to Kagome and looked at her book.  
"What is that?"  
"This? It's a biology textbook."  
Kagome flipped the page again, and Shippo became very happy.  
"She's beautiful!" he exclaimed.  
Kagome's eyes wandered over to a color photo of a young vixen standing on a rock.  
"Five hundred years too early for her, I'm afraid."  
Inu-Yasha landed then landed inches in front of them, and with that the young Higurashi let out a yell and put her hands in the air.  
"AAaaaaa!...Don't DO that!" she exclaimed, putting a hand over her racing heart.  
"From what I could gather, it seems that there are two shards outside of Musashi's Domain, about a day-and-a-half's walk from here..." Inu-Yasha explained, totally ignoring the startled girl.  
Kagome recovered. "So what kind of demon has them now?"  
"I've no idea. All I know is what the water sprites told me."  
The schoolgirl clapped her book shut and stuck it in the pack she was leaning against. She got up, dusted her jeans, and looked at Inu-Yasha.  
"I guess we'd better go then, huh?" she smiled, putting on the pack and starting towards the trading path.  
The dog-demon blinked twice.  
"Uhm, yeah."  
Shippo glanced at Inu-Yasha, then scampered after Kagome.  
Myoga had noticed it too.  
"It seems, Lord Inu-Yasha, that Kagome is quite willing to go on a journey today." he chirped, bouncing onto the half-demon's head.  
"Either that, or she's angry... You can never discern a female's mood. Being female is what makes her an even bigger idiot than most humans."  
Myoga sighed. "You shouldn't be so rash towards Miss Kagome. She IS trying to help you, you know."  
Kagome turned around abruptly and looked to Inu-Yasha.  
"HURRY UP!" she shouted angrily.  
Inu-Yasha ran to catch up.  
"You cretin!... Don't you yell at me!" he huffed.  
"Look here, dog-boy, I want to find those shards ASAP so I can go back home and take my practice test! The sooner we get the shards, the better my mark will be!"  
Inu-Yasha grumbled something foul under his breath.  
"Don't make me say 'it' again..." Kagome warned, darkly.  
The young boy promptly hushed.  
The old trading path ran along the edge of a dark forest. The dirt beneath the four companions' feet was hard from the beating of the horses' hooves that frequently used the road.  
Kagome reached into her pack and pulled out some cookies.  
"Want some, you guys?" she grinned genuinely.  
Shippo readily agreed (what child turns down cookies?), and Inu-Yasha grudgingly accepted two of them.  
"I wonder who has the shards?" Shippo pondered.  
"I don't sense any demon blood or powers..." added Inu-Yasha, twitching his ears.  
"Well, we'll just have to see then, huh?" offered Kagome.

"I sense more shards!" whispered a delicate voice.  
A large catwoman dressed in Chinese clothing fiddled with her whiskers. Her fur was the color of the gray moon, and she had eyes as yellow as the sun. She sat on her throne, contemplating this turn of events. Her eyes scanned the crumbling walls of the forgotten feudal castle.  
"Two fragments I have of the Shikon no Tama already... with more, even greater power I will posess... The holder of many others approaches me... Mayhaps I send some friends out to greet them?" she purred to herself.  
The slim cat-demon mewed softly and an army of rats and mice scurried to the decrepit throne room.  
"Aah... what better than to have a cat play with mice?" the cat grinned bearing needle-like fangs, "Now my dears, find out what you can about our approaching friends..."  
As soon as they had come, the rodents left.  
"With luck, I may be able to play with them..." the demon laughed, glancing to the silver light bouncing softly off her deadly glaive.  
"Geez, are we THERE yet?" Kagome groaned to Inu-Yasha.  
"We have a day more to go... Two, if you keep dragging along like that..." he grumbled.  
The party watched as the sun set over the hills. Darkness, and an infinite number of stars, soon followed.  
"HOkay! That's it! Time to set up camp!" Kagome smiled, dropping her pack. Shippo, who was riding in top of the pack, tumbled off of it.  
"Camp!" exclaimed Inu-Yasha.  
"Yes! We can't walk all night... too dangerous, anyway. Besides, I'm not a demon, I don't have night vision or a great sense of smell. That's your specialty..." Kagome stated matter-of-factly, "I'm also tired! I had a whole day of school today!"  
Inu-Yasha let out a deep growl, but reluctantly obeyed.  
Kagome soon finished putting up her tent. It was small, and there was just enough room for three people, but Kagome had a tiny battery operated latern inside. She set right to studying. Shippo was honored to be given the privelege of sleeping next to Kagome, but Inu-Yasha and Myoga kept watch. The situation kept them from their slumber.  
Inu-Yasha lay on the limb of a tree, glaring down at the shadow of the young girl sitting in the softly glowing tent.  
"Bah... now I know why we set up camp! So that...wench... can keep her nose in her spellbooks." he added bitterly, changing his gaze to the red moon.  
"Lord Inu-Yasha, it is said that one is not truly strong without knowledge. Perhaps Lady Kagome is training herself." explained Myoga after a few moments of silence.  
"For something she refers to as an 'exam.' She's doing it all for herself! We could be closer to the shards right now!" the dog-demon snapped.  
Inu-yasha glared back at the tent and noticed Kagome's shadow was lying down. He leapt from the tree and peered inside the small tent, wondering what she was doing. The young girl was sleeping softly, her book laying on her lap with her hand still on it. Inu-Yasha studied her.  
'She's cute...when she's asleep...' he thought to himself.  
Without thinking, he removed the book from her lap and pulled the blanket up so it covered her. He pushed an odd red button on the light device, shutting it off, and placed it next to the snoring Shippo.  
Inu-Yasha's ears twitched.  
Exiting the tent, he noticed two mice scurrying towards the tent. Seeing Inu-Yasha's white hair glowing in the moonlight, the mice quickly scurried away.  
Back at the crumbling feudal village, the rats and mice scurried to the fort where their mistress awaited.  
Inside, the beautiful cat-demon held a tiny brown mouse in her hand.  
"Half-demon, you say?... A human girl and a demon child?... Quite interesting..." she purred, "From the sound, it may be Inu-Yasha, the one who defeated the great Sesshoumaru..."  
The cat woman looked to her weapon.  
"Soon, my love! We may taste the Steel-Cleaving Fang, you and I!" she laughed, "But you are not made of ordinary stuffs. Angel-forged, you are stronger than any demon weapon!"  
And with that, the demon cat cackled as mice scurried around her.  
Morning came, and with it, the rising sun.  
Kagome yawned delicately. She had never slept so well...at least in the feudal age! Shippo gleefully ran over to the dog-demon perched in the tree as Kagome took the tent apart.  
"Bet you wish you were me, huh dog-boy!" he laughed.  
Shippo's reply was a bonk on the head as Inu-Yasha leapt from his perch.  
"I'd rather be dead..."  
Kagome laughed and strapped on her pack.  
The four travellers set off once more, Inu-Yasha in the lead. It wasn't long before the silence was broken.  
"Kagome, what do you hope to achieve by reading those manuscripts?" Inu-Yasha asked quietly.  
Kagome was surprised at the question, but answered it truthfully.  
"I'm trying to make good marks at my school. If I don't, then I won't be able to get into a better one next year. That means I need to study all the time so I'm prepared for my tests!"  
"If it causes you so much trouble, why do you continue?" Inu-Yasha offered.  
"Well, it's the law to go to school in my age, and--" started Kagome.  
"No... I meant why do you continue to come here and fight when you have such trouble at home?"  
"Huh!" stumbled Kagome, "Well... you need my help, don't you? I can't just let you go on by yourself!"  
Inu-Yasha couldn't think of a rebuttal. He left the conversation at that.  
Shippo leapt off the large backpack and ran ahead.  
"Has anyone noticed the amount of mice in this area!" he pondered, sniffing the ground.  
"What do you mean, Shippo?" asked Kagome.  
"He's correct... There have been many mice in the forest as of late... far more than normal..." explained the half-demon.  
"...Okay...so..."  
"Last night as I left your portable dwelling, there were mice looking inside. Once they saw me, they ran off..."  
"Someone knows we're coming!" blurted Shippo.  
Kagome hadn't moved an inch during the conversation.  
"You...were in my TENT!...While I was SLEEPING!" she exclaimed, her face growing beet red and her anger rising.  
Inu-Yasha turned around.  
"Huh!... You asshole! What do you think I was doing in there!" he blurted.  
"THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW, YOU PERVERT!" Kagome shouted, raising a fist into the air.  
"Lady Kagome! To be quite honest, all he did was check to see if you were okay, and put your blanket on you." Myoga interjected.  
Kagome blinked twice.  
"...Really?"  
"Most certainly. He saw you slump down in your tent and he beca--AUGGH!"  
Inu-Yasha removed his thumb from the squished flea-demon.  
"Shut up, old man..."  
Kagome blushed. Inu-Yasha was worried about her? Was it possible for such a thing to happen?  
Inu-Yasha growled. Myoga had almost made him sound soft! What's worse, in front of Kagome!  
"You guys! Look!" Shippo yelled from further ahead on the trail.  
Everyone thankfully forgot the conversation and ran towards Shippo. In the distance was the guard towers from a decaying feudal colony.  
"I smell more mice... and a cat..." whispered Shippo.  
"Let's see what's going on!" Kagome exclaimed, heading towards the crumbling front gates.  
The group set off once more.  
As they neared the feudal village, the scent of a cat became stronger in Inu-Yasha's nose.  
"Welcome, my loves!" said a voice, "Have you come to play with me?"  
The voice laughed, sounding like tinkling bells.  
"Who's there?...Show yourself, you coward!"  
The catwoman appeared inches from Inu-Yasha's nose.  
"You have come to give me the shards, yes?" she purred, wrapping her slender arms around Inu-Yasha.  
"Keep off of him, you floozy!" yelled Kagome.  
Inu-Yasha was blatently surprised when the cat demon kissed him full on the lips.  
"I SAID, keep off of him!" Kagome said, pulling an arrow back with her bowstring.  
Inu-Yasha pushed the cat away.  
"Damn you, Nekomata!" he spat, wiping his mouth repeatedly.  
"Call me 'Aiko', darling..." purred the cat.  
"A nekomata... a mere cat who has lived long enough to recieve demonic powers... So, this is the demon who holds two of the shards..." explained Myoga.  
Aiko turned her sultry gaze towards the flea.  
"A little flea...how quaint! Isn't it like a dog to have fleas?" the cat laughed.  
"Shall we see if cats have nine lives?" Inu-Yasha retorted darkly.  
The cat demon smiled sweetly and looked towards the human girl. Aiko extended her large curved claws and took a lightning fast swipe, catching Kagome across the arm, causing her to shout. Little drops of blood formed on her arm.  
"Watch it, you jerk!" she yelped, clutching her arm.  
"MONSTER!" howled Inu-Yasha, bringing out his magic blade.  
"Ah, ah, ah! Naughty puppy!" grinned the cat, holding a vial between her fingers, "The only known antidote..."  
"Antidote?...You poisoned her? How dare you!" growled Shippo.  
"You want this vial, my loves, you do a favor for me, yes?"  
Kagome instantly began to feel dizzy and slumped to the ground, an obvious reaction the venom.  
Inu-Yasha became nervous. A human wouldn't last long with demon venom; that he knew from experience. He quickly ran to her side.  
"Kagome! Are you all right?" he exclaimed, picking up her head.  
"I'll be fine... gotta get the... shards..." she said weakly.  
Inu-yasha set her head down gently.  
"Name your favor, witch..."  
The cat grinned yet again.  
"You give me the Shikon jewel shards! What less?"  
The halfling winced. The shards? They'd make her stronger... but... what of Kagome? She'd die in a few minutes without the antidote.  
Inu-Yasha shuffled through Kagome's fallen pack and took out the shards.  
Kagome fought to stay awake.  
"Inu-- Inu-Yasha! You...musn't..."  
Shippo growled at the dog-demon.  
"Idiot! She won't give us the antidote! What are you doing?" the little fox jumped up and down.  
"We have no choice! Kagome will die if we don't try!" he snapped.  
"Now now, little fox... have faith in me... I'm a girl who's true to my word." purred the cat.  
Inu-Yasha removed one shard from Kagome's bottle of seven.  
"I keep this one until I see that she is okay..."  
"...Whatever you wish... as long as it is mine..."  
Inu-Yasha reluctantly handed over the vial. The cat eagerly grabbed it and laughed. She tossed the vial towards Inu-Yasha, not caring if he caught it.  
"She's unconscious, Lord Inu-Yasha!" exclaimed Myoga as his master caught the liquid.  
The half-demon quickly opened the bottle and poured the contents into Kagome's mouth. Within minutes, the teenager awoke.  
"Inu-Yasha?... What happened?" she muttered, propping herself up on her elbows, "What did you do with th-- You gave her the shards!" she shouted.  
"She lives, you see? Now give me that shard!" Aiko snarled.  
Shippo, without warning, rushed forth and clamped his mouth shut on the end of Aiko's tail. She screamed in pain, but quickly recovered and shocked the little fox-boy with so much electricity his hair stood up. He yelped and fell to the ground.  
"Teach yourself a lesson, pup! Hahahahaha!" the cat cackled, as she quickly disappeared into nothingness, "You bring that last shard to me... and you may live!"  
"Shippo!" cried Kagome, rushing over to the child, "You poor thing! Why did you do that!" she chided, smoothing down his hair and cradling him.  
"I tried to distract her so you could nab the shards...guess it didn't work..." he coughed.  
"Don't make any more moves without discussing it with us..." Kagome said tartly, putting the fox on his feet.  
"Aw geez... I'm not a little kid!" he huffed.  
Kagome then turned to Inu-Yasha.  
"I thought all you cared about were the shards! Why'd you give them up over me!"  
Inu-Yasha drew back a step. He hadn't thought of that.  
"Well, uh... If you were dead, I wouldn't be able to find any more shards because you can see its aura and I can't..." he bluffed.  
Kagome smiled anyway.  
"Thanks for caring..." she blushed, then furrowed her brows, "Now let's go teach that cat who's who! I can't beLIEVE she poisoned me! She's gonna pay!"  
The four companions headed into the fortress.  
Skeletons were littered about in every direction. Some bodies were still largely intact, indicating they hadn't died but a few days before. Crows flitted about, various scraps of flesh in their beaks. Kagome almost screamed when a crow accidentally droped an eyeball inches in front of her.  
On top of the carnage, the entire village was covered in thick mist. Kagome noted that the mist glowed softly, suggesting that this was no natural phenomenon.  
Remnants of a wooden door lie in a pile at the front of the approaching feudal castle, pieces that had survived the flames that had engulfed it.  
"What happened here?..." whispered Kagome.  
"Massacre by another feudal land, I wager. These people were lucky they weren't tortured." Inu-Yasha snorted.  
Kagome gazed to a corpse with a rope tied around its wrists. The way the skeleton was lying on the ground indicated that the villager had been dragged from a horse until he was in tatters.  
"I'd beg to differ." she swallowed nervously.  
They stepped inside the decrepit structure where Aiko had said to enter. Not much was in the former castle, but it wasn't long before they entered the throne room.  
No one was inside.  
"Hiding again, are we pussycat!" laughed Inu-Yasha.  
"My lord! Look!" shouted Myoga, turning his attention to the glowing glaive silently coming towards them. It seemed as if it was eerily floating, but it's wielder soon faded into existence.  
"Behold the Angel's glaive... My wonderful toy..." the cat purred once more.  
Kagome noticed the cat's claws. They glowed with eight shards of the Shikon Jewel.  
Inu-Yasha pulled out the Tetsusaiga.  
"Stay back Kagome!" he shouted as it transformed into the Fang, "Let me protect you!"  
"Inu-Yasha! Be careful! The shards are in her claws!"  
The nekomata whirled her glaive around in a deadly circle, then thrust it out towards Inu-Yasha, who blocked it with great difficulty.  
"The Angel's Glaive was forged by angels... won by a demon defeating and destroying an angel of mercy! Your demon blade can't stand up against it!" Aiko cackled, letting electricity flow from her weapon.  
Inu-Yasha screamed and flew back ten feet.  
Kagome took out her bow without hesitation and aimed an arrow at Aiko.  
"You plan on hitting me with that?" the cat snickered.  
Kagome let the arrow fly. It was headed straight for the demon, and the second before it hit, she teleported out of the way.  
The young Higurashi stared in complete shock.  
"Cheater! You can't do that!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down.  
"And who, little girl, says I'm playing by your rules!" Aiko smiled.  
Inu-Yasha had recovered enough to stand, and soon aimed his sword at the cat.  
"I've had enough of the games!" he spat, "Now you'll die..."  
"We'll see about that, my love."  
Inu-Yasha darted forward and leapt at Aiko.  
"STEEL-CLEAVING FANG!" he hollered with all his fury, letting his blade fly down.  
"Pathetic!" laughed the lovely nekomata.  
The glaive was up in an instant, and more electricity flowed through Inu-Yasha.  
"When will you give up the shard?" Aiko snarled.  
"When...I...die..." Inu-Yasha growled back.  
"Very soon, you say?" she added.  
"Witch... what a coward you are!..." the dog-boy spat, "You can't fight without the shards, can you? Before the shards, you were just a weak, little cat! Weren't you!"  
"I was never a mere cat... I have lived for five-hundred years, waiting for the day when I could destroy anyone who stood in my way!" Aiko retorted, getting angry.  
"I thought you were weak! Now I have the proof!" Inu-Yasha laughed, still holding up against the high voltage.  
"SHUT UP!" the cat screamed, forcing Inu-Yasha's blade out of the way.  
"Prove it to me! Fight me without the shards! If you do not, you have lied about your 'former' power all along!" the half-demon said with malice, breathing heavily.  
'What is he doing?' thought Kagome, watching helplessly  
"What do I have to prove to YOU, halfling bastard?" hissed the nekomata.  
"What don't you?... If you can fight without the shards of the Jewel of Four Souls, you'll have your pride and I'll have lost my life. Don't fight me, and we will all know the true level of your cowardice!"  
The cat demon removed the eight shards from her claws. She placed them in a vial and put it in a pouch hanging off her belt.  
"Now, halfling! Now you will see how sweet death is!" Aiko cackled.  
Kagome suddenly caught on to Inu-Yasha's plan.  
"Shippo!" she whispered hurriedly, "Change into a mouse and steal back the shards while she's distracted!"  
Shippo nodded quickly and set to the task. With a soft pop, he was a rodent, and quickly scurried towards the cat. By this time, more mice had entered the chamber to try and aid their mistress, and Shippo fit right into the crowd.  
"Without the glaive, witch!" Inu-Yasha barked.  
"Then put away your Tetsusaiga, dog!" added the cat.  
Inu Yasha placed his weapon in its scabbard, and tossed it to Kagome. Aiko called to her rodent army to take her blade from her hand.  
As the mice scurried up the nekomata, Shippo nudged his way into Aiko's pouch. He quickly grabbed the vial and scurried off with the rest of the mice as the lifted the glaive away and carried it to the wall.  
As soon as the blade was safely placed to the side, Aiko bared her normal claws.  
"Ready when you are, pup!"  
"Claws of steel!" shouted Inu-Yasha, slashing out at the cat.  
Aiko merely opened her mouth and spat fireballs at him. Some of the dry wood began to catch on fire.  
Kagome gasped and reached into her pack, pulling out a large two liter bottle of spring water. Aiko looked to the girl nervously.  
"Eyes to ME!" Inu-Yasha roared, barely missing Aiko's head.  
Kagome splashed the flames. If allowed to burn, the entire structure would be engulfed in only minutes.  
The nekomata let forth more and more fireballs, and Inu-Yasha, despite his fire-rat cloak, struggled under the heat.  
Higurashi got angry. She was running out of water! Standing up, she took the bottle of water and aimed a splash at the cat.  
"Cool down, kitty cat!" she shouted.  
Aiko screamed as the water burned on her skin. She howled in pain as smoke rose from her form.  
"...Water... She hates water!... Inu-Yasha! Keep her at bay with this!" Kagome shouted, throwing him the bottle of water. He caught it and aimed it towards the cat, but she was immersed in her pain.  
The schoolgirl frantically shuffled around in her pack for the liter bottle of water she had opened earlier that morning. Finding it, she brought it out and ran to Inu-Yasha.  
"Splash her! Now, Inu-Yasha!"  
Aiko screamed, "No! I cannot die now! Stop it!"  
Kagome and Inu-Yasha both splashed the nekomata, and Aiko's screams began to grow into howls, then they stopped altogether. The cat's slender humanoid figure began to dissapate, a mass of sparkles shimmering in the former castle's throne room. After the sparkles faded, Aiko's clothes flopped to the ground.  
Mice began to scurry about in every direction, the spell that held them gone, and Shippo returned to his normal form with a 'poof.'  
"We did it!" Kagome smiled.  
"Now we have two more shards!" laughed Shippo.  
"Yeah, but what's that humming noise?" Inu-Yasha queried, twitching his white ears. He looked to the silent weapon that Aiko treasured so.  
The glaive that rested against the wall soon brought on a holy light, and soon, it was picked up by a figure immersed in blinding light. Slowly, giant wings flapped outward. The four friends stood in awe.  
"Thank you all. Now that Aiko is gone, the glaive can return to its rightful home!" said the figure. It's voice was neither male nor female, yet was definitely human.  
As soon as it appeared, it vanished.  
"No way… Was that for real!" Kagome stuttered.  
Nobody could reply.

Later that afternoon, the troupe paused to sit in the priestess's hut. Kaede adjusted her eye patch and stirred the rice.  
"So, you won two more shards, have you?" Lady Kaede said, stoking the cooking fire.  
"Yes, and it is only a matter of time before we have the whole jewel." Kagome explained.  
"Ah, but once you have found the jewel, what will you do with it?" Kaede wondered as she placed some rice in a bowl for Inu-Yasha.  
Kagome thought to herself.  
"Well, we still don't know anything about the jewel. It's past and it's creation… who's four souls made up the jewel? We need to find that out…"  
Kaede gave a wooden bowl of rice to Kagome.  
Inu-Yasha grumbled, "The only thing you need to know is that it increases demon power. That's why I want it."  
"You're incredibly strong all by yourself Inu-Yasha, and you don't need the Jewel of Four Souls. " the young girl smiled genuinely, "What you DO need is to learn to listen to reason!" winked Kagome.  
The dog-demon simply snorted and stuck his nose in the air.  
"So, are you off to find more shards?" Kaede asked, handing Shippo his rice bowl.  
"No ma'am. I need to head back home to study my math. I have a test tomorrow." Kagome replied.  
"You really gotta leave again!" Shippo said, looking down.  
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon Shippo! Inu-Yasha'll drag me back here before too long!"  
Kagome finished her rice and thanked Kaede for her hospitality. Before Inu-Yasha could catch her, she ran to the forest and leapt into the well.  
"Get back heeeere!…" Inu-Yasha shouted into the well before dissapearing.  
"Oh well," sighed Kagome as she climbed out of the well, "Here we go again!"

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Inu-Yasha is (C) 1997-1999 Rumiko Takahashi, Shonen Sunday. All characters/items are the sole property of her (with the exception of Aiko and her glaive) and are used without her permission.  
BTW, this is my FIRST Inu-Yasha story, so I'm trying here, people... I didn't insert anything that would change the storyline, none of that self-insertion junk, so PLEASE don't email me with a bunch of crap saying how bad this story sucks because I already KNOW it sucks! Further repitition of that fact is not needed. THANK YOU:)  
Aaa! Thirteen pages long in 12pt Arial! We're cursed, I tell you! CURSED!  
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  
Quote for the day: "I don't have the confidence to explain it to you so that you'd understand…" --Yotsuya-san, Maison Ikkoku


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